DigiTimes had the opportunity to talk with Philips Polymer Vision about Concept Readius, a monochrome 5-inch QVGA display which can be rolled back into a pocket-size device and which offers all the benefits of electronic paper including high contrast and low power consumption.

Concept Readius: designed for a pocket e-reader application; can be bigger than the device itself (usually the display is a maximum 70% of the device size); uses an electrophoretic display effect (electronic paper) that only uses power when the screen is refreshed.

Development roadmap: Mass manufacturing will start in 2006 in cooperation with a manufacturing partner.

Introduction schedule: Philips Polymer Vision will work with handheld device manufacturers to bring this rollable display to market. Products could be in the market as early as 2007.

This sounds _very_ promising. I hope the device will be capable of reading as many formats as possible, is user friendly, and above all, affordable! If it can be all, or even most of these things, it coud truly revolutionise the ebook/reader market.

This sounds _very_ promising. I hope the device will be capable of reading as many formats as possible, is user friendly, and above all, affordable! If it can be all, or even most of these things, it coud truly revolutionise the ebook/reader market.

I agree, but history suggests that instead of getting the Rosetta device that can read everything, even Sanskrit, we'll end up with a Libre. Content providers don't care if you can read all formats under the sun, only their own.

But if it actually gets to market, even in the limited quantities that the Libre did, a certain community will attempt to correct any deficiencies the device would have.

If the pictures are any indication, though, that certainly looks like the most portable device I've ever seen.